YANTAO Xia, a teacher who has sued Eucon International School, is asking the federal court to include Eucon’s president, Hsieh-Kan Christian Wei, as defendant.
Represented by attorney Cong Nie, Xia has filed a notice of motion and motion for leave to amend complaint and for extension of deadline.
Nie said Eucon’s discovery responses to an interrogatory asking Eucon to identify persons having decision-making authority over Xia’s employment, identified Wei, who is the president of Eucon, as the person whose authority includes “hiring, recruiting and terminating employees.”
Nie said in response to interrogatories concerning the company called “CWM Trust LLC” that, he added, allegedly participated in Eucon’s fraud in having CWM Trust LLC charge Xia for CW-1 processing fees, Eucon produced documents showing that Wei was an owner and the chief executive officer or manager of CWM Trust LLC and Eucon, through Wei, had signed a document entitled “Service Agreement” purportedly for CWM Trust LLC to provide services to Eucon instead of to Xia, the lawyer said.
Xia initially filed his lawsuit pro se or without a lawyer. On Sept. 24, 2021, he retained Nie who then emailed Eucon’s attorney Colin Thompson on the same day to notify Eucon that Xia planned to amend the complaint to add Wei as a co-defendant and to communicate a new settlement offer.
Nie asked the court to grant leave to amend and extend the deadline for joinder and amendment.
The amendment is meritorious and certainly would not be futile, Nie added.
Nie said Eucon’s discovery responses reveal that Wei would qualify as an “employer” of Xia under the Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA and the Minimum Wage and Hour Act and therefore be liable personally to Xia.
According to Nie, Eucon’s discovery responses further reveal that Wei had control of CWM Trust LLC and is likely the person behind the alleged fraud in the fifth cause of action of the complaint.
“Xia anticipates that in opposition, Eucon will reassert, without support, that this court has no subject matter jurisdiction because there is no FLSA coverage. That position is meritless. FLSA coverage is a substantive, not jurisdictional, issue,” Nie said.
Eucon has denied all the allegations of the former teacher.
On Feb. 17, 2021, Xia sued Chinese Bible Church International Inc., doing business as Eucon International School, alleging breach of contract and other labor wage violations.
